Despite the huge impact that SEO can have for a business, not every business owner is interested in investing in it. They have other ideas of what they should be spending their money on such as a new logo, a brand new office chair, or a company away day.

But SEO should be considered an essential investment for any company that uses a website to bring in business. There really is no exception. Don’t believe us? Here are seven reasons investing in SEO is a must.

1. Search engines are probably your main source of traffic

Regardless of how you market your website, search engines like Google probably send you the majority of your traffic. Rather than trying to improve the number of clicks you get from Facebook, you can have a much bigger impact with a much smaller increase in organic traffic.

2. It is a long-term investment

When you pay for an ad on Google or Facebook, your ad lasts only as long as it takes to for someone to click on it. Then it is gone and you have to pay for another one. But SEO can keep providing returns long after you have stopped optimzing your website or creating new content.

3. SEO is more affordable than PPC

In both the short-term and the long-term, investing in SEO is much more affordable than spending money on PPC ads. Sure, you can get instant results from a PPC campaign, but you can get bigger results for longer by investing less in SEO.

4. It can improve brand reputation

Great SEO can do a huge amount for your brand. Ranking at the top of search engines is something of a status symbol. It means that Google finds your website trustworthy and reputable. Creating content also gives you the chance to show off just how much you know about the industry, too.

5. You can increase customer numbers

The more traffic you bring to your website, the more potential customers you have. It’s really that simple. Organic traffic tends to be much higher converting than social traffic, too. Meaning that it won’t take much more visitors to increase customer numbers.

6. Improved Return on Investment

Investing in any form of paid advertising or marketing, whether that is a billboard or a Google PPC ad, is a one-off. Once it is gone it is gone. That makes it hard to get a great return on investment unless you can convert a lot of visitors. Because SEO is longer term, the ROI tends to be much higher.

7. SEO grows and grows

The more you invest in SEO and the longer you do it, the bigger impact it will have on your business. One post after years of doing SEO can have the same impact as five posts now. That means it’s best to start as soon as possible.

Small business marketing simply isn’t complete without SEO. So what are you waiting for?

Why Your Small Business Should Invest in SEO This Year